Indiana Review is thrilled to partner with the excellent Indiana University Press to start our Blue Light Books series, an annual Prize given on alternating years for a short story collection and a poetry collection. From December 1, 2015 to February 15, 2016 we will be accepting submissions of short story collections. The winner will receive $2,000, publication with IU Press, and be flown out to beautiful Bloomington, IN to read at our 2017 Blue Light Reading. This year the prize will be judged by Michael Martone. Read more…

We at Indiana Review are thrilled to announce Blue Light Books, a new book series partnership with the excellent Indiana University Press. The Blue Light Book Prize will rotate each year between short story and poetry collections. The inaugural Prize, awarded in 2016, will be for a short story collection. The first awarded Prize aims to display a stunning collection of fiction and will be published through IU Press. The winner will be awarded $2,000, publication, be flown out to read at our 2017 Blue Light Reading here in beautiful Bloomington, IN, and will be selected through an anonymous reading by Michael Martone.

The name for the collaboration was inspired by a blue light outside of the Indiana Review offices, which are located at the end of a long hallway. When the office is open, the blue light is turned on. Our annual spring Blue Light Reading has come to symbolize our sense of openness and larger dedication to the literary community, and we are proud to expand this commitment with our Blue Light Books Prize. Read more…

I’ve never given birth, but I imagine it might be something like the production of a literary journal. After about nine months of hard work and sweating and weeping and bleeding (paper cuts can be painful), we are at last blessed with the new sleek, shiny new issue that we can hold close and cherish.

My mom will be the first to point out that it is probably nothing at all like childbirth; she will also be quick to remind me that an average human gestation period is, in reality, thirty-eight weeks ( and is often longer). She’s probably also the first one to read this post (Hi, mom!).

Perhaps the larger discrepancy, though, is the fact the birth of a journal is a completely collective effort, and could never have happened without the dedication and commitment of all our readers, interns, editorial staff, office staff, contributors, contest judge, typesetter, printer, distributor, and, of course, you, our readers!

So, however inapt the birth metaphor may be, we are very proud to announce the arrival of a beautiful ~1 lb. issue of Indiana Review, filled with fresh and exciting poems, stories, and essays.

If you are a subscriber, keep a lookout for your issue to arrive in the mail. If you are not a subscriber, but want to be, or if you would like to order a single-issue copy, you can do so here.

I could say so much more about the issue, here, but I’ll keep this short and sweet. Instead, I’ll leave you with the words of one LeVar Burton, who said it best when he said, “You don’t have to take my word for it.”

Thank you so much for supporting Indiana Review. We are truly grateful for your support. We could not exist without you!

Sincerely,

Jennifer

PS We are always interested in knowing what you think. Feel free to comment below, or send us an email at inreview@indiana.edu. We can’t wait to hear from you!